Withdrawl
by ihrtryoma
Summary: Bart gets injected with Cobra Venom and his body suffers as he slowly gets of the addiction to it. Jaime feels a little bit powerless to stop the pain Bart gets from the withdrawl symptoms and Jaime discovers more than Bart's fever making him feel this way.


Jaime sat doing his homework in the Young Justice HQ that had been built after a short while in Justice League's HQ. He jumped turning when the tube admitted several people, he got up as soon as he spotted Bart being carried by Connor. Bart didn't look good; he was shaking so badly Connor seemed to have trouble keeping him in his arms.

"What's going on?" he asked looking worriedly at Bart.

"One of the criminals managed to catch Bart off guard, they had Kobra-venom" Garfield replied.

"They injected him with it?" Jaime asked alarmed.

"Yeah" he nodded confirming, Connor sat on the couch with Bart.

"Just try to ride it out" Connor said looking worried, a difference from his usually serious face.

"Agh who the fuck would put this in their fucking body on purpose?" Bart shuddered "fuck!" they were a little taken back at how much Bart was currently cussing but let it go. "M'gann, get the inhibitor collar" he growled.

"But-"

"Before I lose control" Bart snapped then cringed, M'gann shook her head but kept the inhibitor collar on the table in case.

Bart's eyes were glowing green and he was incredible pale. "How long does this stuff last?" Bart asked, gripping Superboy's arm in a death grip which Jaime was positive his own hand would definitely be broken.

Bart muscle didn't really get bigger but he was rapidly getting thinner, like the venom was sucking his energy to make him faster. "I don't know, it doesn't take much venom" Connor replied.

"So… no antidote?" Bart asked and cursed under his breath again.

"No" Jaime confirmed.

"Fucking Crash" Bart growled sarcastically.

All three looked toward the zeta tube as it admitted Tim, Batman, and Kaldur "how are you doing?" he asked.

"Awesome" Bart snapped.

"It'll take 4 hours for the drugs affects to come down from the high but after that we're going to have slowly get you off the drug. At this point, you stop with the venom cold and you'll die. No missions" Batman explained. "How much venom were you injected with?" he added.

"I don't know, a thin injector thing; I know it was full" Bart replied.

"Okay, tomorrow we'll inject with less venom but I'm sorry we have to do this" Batman said looking sympathetic, about as sympathetic as he could look with his mask.

"Yeah… thanks" Bart mumbled.

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Early the next morning, Jaime was in early in the morning; Bart was sitting in front of the TV squeezing a stress ball as Connor watched static on the TV. Static sat at the bar watching M'gann clean with tired eyes. M'gann shut a box with a key and put it into a safe sitting in a corner of the kitchen. Likely filled with venom, Bart quickly stood up suddenly and ran; suddenly he was at the sink throwing up.

He coughed before throwing up more, Jaime walked up to him rubbing his back while M'gann grabbed a glass of water and napkin. Bart had tears streaking down his face as he took the napkin wiping his mouth off then taking the water rinsing out his mouth and spitting then drinking it. He rubbed the tears away; his eyes were really red; he was shaky as he suddenly leaned against Jaime.

"Jaime… it hurts" Bart said on the verge of full out sobbing.

"I know" Jaime replied wrapping his arm around him; Bart was thinner than yesterday. But then he was a speedster, not eating does stuff quicker than anyone else. It didn't help that the venom was taking his energy and he couldn't keep food down.

"I'm sorry, M'gann, I couldn't-"

"It's okay, Bart, we'll try again at lunch time; even if you don't eat a lot it's a good thing to at least get some energy" she said.

"Okay" Bart replied, he was really quiet the rest of the day only talking to apologize for puking again later at dinner. He was thankfully able to keep down crackers he had for lunch. Jaime sat on the couch where Bart had finally been able to sleep.

"This is killing him" Jaime said quietly.

"We can't do anything about it" Connor sighed.

"He's getting thinner, is there any kind of protein supplement we can give him?" Jaime asked.

"Hello M'gann, of course!" she went over to the cabinets searching through them and found a card board box's. "Gar used to eat these when he didn't feel like eating an actual dinner; they have insanely high protein" she said.

"Perfect, we'll give those for him to eat" Jaime said.

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It wasn't until a week later that Bart was starting to look a little better; the three were mostly in charge of his health since Connor had the strength to keep him here in case the Venom made him go crazy. Bart still threw up maybe once a day but it was the effects of the venom, he at least stopped losing weight so rapidly.

Bart was still really quiet and red eyed but at least feeling better; some of the Justice League stopped by to see how he was. Bart was down to just a couple drops every 4 hours; Bart was able to see him before and after school but not longer than that.

Jaime walked out of the zeta tube to find Bart over the sink puking yet again. M'gann was rubbing his back and Jaime came up; Bart coughed hard and puked again. The two of them gasped as they saw blood going down the sink. Bart puked yet again then stared dazed at all the blood "Jaime I'm fine…" he passed out.

"Hospital" Jaime said immediately suiting up.

"I'll show you the hero hospital, they'll keep everything secret" she said and they quickly headed for it.

After they told them about the blood he was carted off quickly and examined, they waited in the waiting room for a long time neither of them speaking. Once they saw someone approach they stood quickly "is he alright?" Jaime asked.

"He's fine, it was an ulcer, he was already asleep so we didn't want to add more drugs to his system on top of the venom in his system. We've already contacted Batman and The Flash" he explained "you can see him now" he showed them to the room.

Bart was sound asleep looking pale again, Jaime collapsed into a chair feeling exhausted but relieved. Bart's lashes fluttered and he opened his eyes "wha?"

"Don't move Bart, we'll adjust your chair for you" M'gann said adjusting his seat "you um kind of puked up blood, the doctor said it was an ulcer" she explained as he was upright.

"Ok" Bart replied rubbing his eyes, he blinked sleepily.

"Bart" they all turned as the Barry Allen walked in followed by Batman and surprising Iris Allen behind him "are you okay, they said you had an ulcer?" he said.

"Yeah… I feel better though but it's all pretty m-moded" Bart replied, he clenched his hands together. Jaime sighed, Bart looked like hell and he wished he could do more than just think how awful he looked. His eyes were red; his shoulders had gone from slightly bony to almost skeletal. He was pale and sweating a little all the time, his temperature was never at a healthy temp, all 5 degrees above the average temp.

His hair stuck in all different directions and his throat constantly scratchy as a result of throwing up everyday. "Good, do you think we should we leave you at the hospital for the rest of the time or do you want to go back?" Barry asked. Iris sat down next to Jaime and started to run his hand soothingly through his hair looking worried,

"I want to go b-back with Jaime" Bart stammered a little, it was unlike him because Bart always spoke with amazing fluidness and clarity.

"Alright, you're on bed rest for the rest of the week though" Iris told him firmly.

"Sh-shouldn't you be on bedrest, you're kind of almost d-due" Bart said looking down at her 8 months pregnant belly.

She laughed "I suppose so but you're important too, Bart" she said kissing his cheek.

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The day came when they were finally able to not give him any drops of venom but he was still suffering from withdrawl. Jaime was glad it was Saturday so he could watch him; Bart couldn't keep anything down that day.

He didn't complain however even as the withdrawl symptoms hit him with a 106 fever. They were forced to put medicine to lower his fever on faith that he wouldn't get addicted to more medicine. Jaime volunteered to stay up all night watching Bart and trying to get him even a little bit of food.

The same exact thing seemed to happen on Sunday and he finally decided there was no way he could focus on school Monday. He stayed up again on Sunday night until Bart finally asleep on the couch against his chest. He woke up late on Monday alone on the couch.

_The impulse went somewhere while you were asleep. _Khaji Da told him, it shocked him because he had been really quiet for weeks.

"Okay, is he still here?" Jaime asked.

_Yes._

Jaime walked through HQ to Bart's room in case he needed to stay late, he walked into the room not finding him. He walked down the hall to find Superboy "have you seen…"

"He's taking a shower" Connor replied looking to be in a better mood than in weeks.

He nodded walking to the showers, he found Bart indeed taking a shower "Bart" he said.

He turned, he was still pale but the red eyed look had gone away "hey hermano, it's so crash to be clean again" he said, Jaime relaxed.

"So you feel better?" he asked.

"Yeah, I feel a little tired but a couple naps and night rests will fix that but I'm fine-" Jaime hugged him full clothed.

"Sorry, I'm just glad you're yourself again" he replied.

Bart smiled "yeah it's crash, but uh Jaime now you're clothes are wet" he informed.

"Yeah I think I'll just take a shower later, you can stand okay?" Jaime asked, he knew his cheeks were red, he just knew it.

"Yup, I don't feel dizzy anymore but Jaime?"

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Can I have Chicken whizzes?"

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"Eat some more" Mrs. Reyes prodded Bart to eat a little more, it had been 2 weeks since Bart's withdrawl symptoms had gone away and since he started eating again. Jaime began to think maybe it was maternal thing among women at least until Superboy had physically removed Bart from the couch to force him to eat the food M'gann had made.

From there, even women on the streets walking by or in stores would hand him food. Still, he was gaining weight and that was enough to make Jaime feel better.

"No, really, Mrs. Reyes, I'm full; I swear I can barely move" he assured her, Jaime chuckled rolling his eyes.

Later on his mother sent Bart to the couch holding a plate of cookies and milk to eat with Milagro while Jaime and his mom washed dishes. "You care for him alot, mijo?" she asked.

"He's my best friend, saved me from a terrible fate" he said, he had told his family about Blue Beetle, the Scarab, the Reach, and though it had taken a while they'd grown used to it all.

She smiled "no, that's not I meant Jaime" she said, she always said his name with a much heavier accent than Jaime had ever possessed and he loved it since he was a kid. "You love him" she said it as a statement and the knowing tone was enough to know she was right.

He dried his hands as he put the last plate in "hm... yeah, the whole time he was sick... I wanted to be able to trade places with him, to take his pain away even if that meant I got the pain instead."

"Yes, that is how I felt and still feel about your father, the willingness to do anything for the sake of the one you love. Mijo, tell him, okay?" she said.

"I'll... eventually" he promised then head down the hall slowly.

_The Impulse is compatable with Jaime Reyes however there are tactics recquired for sucess._

Jaime laughed "what does that mean, you want me to end up with him?" he asked Khaji Da.

_Jaime Reyes seems happiest with the Impulse... this scarab prefers it's host happy lest Jaime Reyes unhappiness affect battle._

Jaime felt a tingle of warmth go up his spine affecting his cheeks making them go red and he laughed, had the scarab just_ blushed?_

He shrugged then headed to join Bart and Milagro on the couch most likely watching Milagro favorite show, My Little Pony.


End file.
